Hi, everyone! It’s Ely again and today I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite novels in verse. I think these are the perfect kinds of books to pick up towards the end of the year as they are usually quick reads, but also stunning ones. So here we go!
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo: It’s not a list of the best novels in verse without mentioning The Poet X. This is probably the one people are most aware of and for good reason—Acevedo is an absolute master of the genre. So if you’ve somehow missed out on The Poet X so far, I highly recommend picking that one up ASAP. At points, it is a bit of a tough read so be prepared for that.
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Another absolute icon of writing novels in verse is Jacqueline Woodson. She’s truly amazing at everything she writes, whether it’s in verse or not, so definitely give her a read if you haven’t already. Brown Girl Reading is probably her most famous work, and it is more of an autobiography in verse but it’s so beautiful that I couldn’t resist.
One by Sarah Crossan
This is one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking books I’ve ever read. It’s the story of two conjoined twins as they make the decision to undergo an operation to disjoin them. Like I said, completely beautiful and heartbreaking. This is one of the ones I picked out for Angel to read this year, so look out for her thoughts on it at some point.
Shout by Laurie Halse Andersen
Going back to the autobiography in verse, Shout is basically Laurie Halse Andersen’s poetry discussing her experience with SA which led her to write Speak, but also talks about her life and writing outside of that as well. After I finished this, I gained a huge amount of respect for Laurie Halse Andersen and her books.
Turtle Under Ice by Juleah del Rosario
This comes out last year and is another book about sisterhood, what that means and why it’s important and finding yourself in life. It’s quite a small little book, but definitely worth your time.
Home Is Not A Country by Safia Elhillo
Finally, another book is also about finding yourself and the importance of family and country. This is also quite a short book. But it gets into some really intense themes and has a dash of something like magical realism to it. Someone on Goodreads said it was like if ‘Elizabeth Acevedo and Nina LaCour wrote a book together. Which I think is a good way to sum it up.
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Have you read any of these? Are any of them on your list?
